“Jefferson obviously was a clear leader on the principle of nullification,” the former Texas congressman said of the third president. “I’ve been working on the assumption that nullification is going to come. It’s going to be a de facto nullification. It’s ugly, but pretty soon things are going to get so bad that we’re just going to ignore the feds and live our own lives in our own states.”

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Cuccinelli campaign in 60 secs

“Nullification” is a loaded word, still brimming with connotations here in what was once the capital of the Confederacy. But it might not even have been the most provocative comment the 78-year-old made in a somewhat disjointed half-hour speech in the Richmond Convention Center.

Cuccinelli is ending his bid where he’s most comfortable: on the right. Twenty-two hours before the polls closed, and with only a slim chance of victory, the attorney general told several hundred supporters that Tuesday’s vote is their chance to register displeasure with the Affordable Care Act. He said the problems with the HealthCare.gov web site are only a taste of what’s to come, warning – while not using the term “death panel” – that the government will soon restrict access to care.

“This law is not done crushing liberty,” he said. “The next thing they’re going to do is tell those doctors how to treat you and then whether to treat you. Let’s be very clear about what’s at stake here.”

Cuccinelli said the U.S. Supreme Court has essentially given the government power to make people buy asparagus. He warned that liberals could even try to force people to buy cars manufactured by General Motors.

“I own an Equinox,” he said, referring to the Chevy. “You don’t want to own an Equinox!”

A recurring attack of the last two weeks is that Democrat Terry McAuliffe lacks specific plans and speaks only in bromides. Cuccinelli likes to say that McAuliffe is the kind of guy who buys a puppy without having a plan on how he’ll take care of it.

To hammer home this message, Cuccinelli had his wife, Teiro, bring their golden retriever, named Pony, onto the stage.

Then came Paul. Free associating, he touched virtually every libertarian erogenous zone in his riff.

He tore into the Constitution’s 17th Amendment. Ratified in 1913, it’s the one that allows for the direct election of U.S. senators by popular vote.

Cuccinelli brought Paul in to limit the bleeding of support to Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis, who has pulled double digits in some polls and threatens to be a spoiler Tuesday.

Paul, who won 40.5 percent in a two-way Virginia Republican primary against Mitt Romney last year, did not mention Sarvis by name, but he attacked him for floating a tax on the number of miles a car drives.

“That’s insane,” said Paul. “What kind of an invasion of privacy is that! Ken is quite correct on the tax issue: no new taxes.”

Paul said Cuccinelli has established a reputation for being unyielding, “where you know he’s not gonna back down.”

“I don’t know whether Ken calls himself a libertarian or not,” he added, “but I know he’s a constitutionalist.”

Cuccinelli focused his closing speech on McAuliffe, but he highlighted his own “pro-liberty” initiatives – including a successful push for an amendment to the state constitution to restrict eminent domain.

Cuccinelli has typically spoken after his surrogates, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) at two stops earlier in the day. But he preceded Paul Monday night. Much of the crowd seemed like they had come for the libertarian icon.

Paul said he’s been doing very little traveling since leaving Congress at the end of last year, but he made an exception for Cuccinelli.

“Ken has been targeted because they want to humiliate those who would stand up for the Constitution,” he said.

Cuccinelli has spent the last few days presenting Tuesday as a referendum on Obamacare and whether to expand Medicaid. He went much further than he usually has attacking the law in his closing argument.

Paul also talked extensively about the health law, which he believes unfairly forces some who don’t need insurance to subsidize medical care for others.

After the rally, as Cuccinelli worked the rope line, he looked more relaxed than earlier, as if a huge weight had been removed from his shoulders. He lingered to smile for photos and thank supporters – leaving the convention center around 10 p.m.

McAuliffe has outspent Cuccinelli by millions of dollars, and the nasty ads have taken a toll on the Republican’s public image.

“You hear about this ‘war on women’ that the other side likes to talk about, but we have five daughters,” said Cuccinelli. “My greatest concern for them today is that opportunity is waning and not growing.”